


Interlude

by sailingtovalinor



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2013-12-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 00:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailingtovalinor/pseuds/sailingtovalinor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles bounds up the steps to his room, flings open his bedroom door and almost gets a coronary attack when he sees Derek lounging casually on his bed, book in hand, leaning against the headboard. Momentarily speechless, he stands still, backpack hanging limply from one hand.</p><p>‘Hi,’ Derek says.</p><p>Stiles waits a beat, and when he realises that that was all Derek has to say, he gets pissed. Derek hasn’t attempted to contact him in a week since- since, and that was all he has to say?</p><p>‘That’s all you have to say?’ Stiles repeats aloud, for the benefit of the idiot who could sense his emotions, but could not – thank god – read his mind or hear his thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude

Stiles trails after Scott, Isaac and Allison, not knowing how far behind he should be in case the …whatever it is they’ve been tracking turns out to be something they should _all_ get the hell away from. Under normal circumstances, Stiles would be walking alongside the three, but seeing as Scott and Isaac are both pre-emptively (and worryingly) wolfed out, and Allison has her weapon of choice already drawn out, Stiles decides that he’d much rather take a backseat – strictly for the moment, thank you. The four of them had been tracking a strange scent over the past four days. Scott, of course, had taken notice of it first, and when he realised that the scent had gotten too close to the town, he took it upon himself to deal with it before anything could happen. Stiles, Isaac and Allison, well – upon finding out what Scott was up to, they joined Scott and refused to leave.

Unlike the other days, though, this time they have Derek with them. Derek, who just yesterday insisted that there was nothing to track, but who, Stiles knows, wanted to come along so he could keep an eye on them. Out of the corner of his eye, Stiles sees Derek stop next to him. Thankfully, his features remain very much human, but just as Stiles thinks that maybe this expedition wouldn’t end in horror, Derek’s hand shoots out to stop Stiles from moving forward; and he says, ‘This, the smell… It’s not right. We need to get out of here.’

Ahead, Scott’s own hands shoot out to stop Isaac and Allison from moving further, and the trio turn, walking back to Derek and Stiles. Scott frowns a little, lifts his head to scent the air. ‘The smell? It’s the same one we’ve been tracking. …it’s not alright in that it’s not normal, but-‘

‘Yeah, something’s not right, alright. Derek Hale, running away from danger?’ Stiles scoffs, turning around to face Derek, nearly tripping over a tree root in the process. He rights himself, eyes on Derek, waiting for a scathing response which didn’t come. He sees Derek lift his head, body tensing and eyes flashing, his hand still on Stiles’ arm tightening a little, and-

All hell breaks loose. Stiles sees movement all around them, and he hears- he hears gunshots?

_Hunters._

Scott pushes Stiles away, trying to get him back to safer ground, as Derek and Isaac throw themselves into the path of the rogue hunters. Allison grabs Stiles by the arm, and drags him up to a higher spot from which she aims her crossbow at the hunters. As Stiles looks on, she calmly releases her bolts, finding her moving targets with ease. She spares a moment to glare at him when he moves to re-join the fray.

‘Stiles, you need to stay. These are rogue hunters, they don’t care that you’re human‘- she aims and releases another bolt – ‘and they have guns and knives and _you don’t have a weapon_.’

Stiles stays, because Allison means business and he knows that he should, he _should_ , but he couldn’t just stay still when everyone else is fighting to keep the others alive, to keep themselves _alive_ -

Stiles notices a hunter coming up on Allison’s right, and he leaps unthinkingly, knocks the hunter off his feet, both tumbling down to where most of the werewolves and hunters continue to fight. Stiles takes a knee to the ribs, and a fist to his face, but manages to grab hold of a stray dagger which lay just within his reach on the forest floor, driving it deep into the man’s thigh. Stiles pushes the man away as he writhes in pain, grabs a gun holstered to the man’s belt, and knocks him out using the grip. Stiles staggers to his feet, and blanches at the sight of the bodies lying around him. He vaguely notes that Scott and Isaac are both engaged in fights of their own where they seem to have the upperhand, that Allison is also nearby, slashing viciously at a hunter, and-

A roar reverberates through the forest, and Stiles turns towards the sound, sees Derek fall.

Stiles stands frozen, even as the others continue to fight. He takes a step towards Derek, and is almost knocked down by one of the few remaining hunters, narrowly missing being gutted. Scott tackles the hunter, and the two tussle on the ground for a moment, fighting to come up on top, and Stiles dazedly looks on as Scott reaches up and twists the hunter’s neck, before pushing the limp body away from him. Scott gets to his feet, and moves towards Stiles, hands stretched out to clutch Stiles’ shoulders tightly.

‘Stiles, you need to focus, okay? Derek, he’s- he’ll be fine, but we need to make sure we’re safe too, okay?’

Stiles automatically brings his hand up, fingers encircling Scott’s wrist, holding on. He trains his eyes on Scott’s face – a deep gash across his cheek is knitting itself up even as he looks on –  and he swallows, says, ‘I- Yeah, I can do that.’ Scott nods back at him, and quickly releases Stiles before going to Isaac’s aid.

Stiles takes a deep breath, bends down, and grabs yet another dagger from the ground.

*

Somehow, Scott, Isaac, Allison and Stiles manage to kill or subdue all the hunters. When they realise that they were the only ones left standing, they stand still for a moment before moving in tandem, running towards where Derek still lies on the ground.

Scott reaches him first, immediately tearing his bloody shirt to look at his wound. Stiles hears him curse. ‘Derek, he- He’s not healing, it’s a bullet wound – it’s wolfsbane, Stiles, he’s been poisoned.’

Stiles drops to his knees on Derek’s other side, shaking hands reaching out to cradle his head. ‘No no no no- Derek, please. Don’t-‘

For one horrible second, it feels like they were in the animal clinic, all those months ago – except it didn’t turn out horrible then, Scott had gotten the bullet and Derek had used it to heal himself. They have nothing on hand that could save Derek now- Stiles shakes his head, refocuses.

‘C’mon, Derek, you can’t die _now_ , dude, not after everything-‘ Stiles stops when Derek opens his eyes, nearly laughs at the look on Derek’s face. His mouth moves, and Stiles, unable to hear anything,  bends his head closer to Derek’s, trying to ignore the poison Derek coughs up as he tries to speak.

‘Don’t… call… me that…’

‘Dude, I swear to god I’ll stop calling you that so long as you’re still around for me to not call you that.’ But Derek’s eyes are closed, and he’s not responding. Stiles tucks his face against Derek’s neck, eyes burning and clenched shut, willing himself not to cry.

 

He hears Scott moving around, muttering about bullets, and Stiles stiffens, mind whirring. He’s sure that he saw Derek slashing at someone just before he fell- the same hunter that had shot-

Stiles straightens and moves away from Derek, hands out, scrabbling against the ground. ‘Scott, Scott- look for any gun lying around here, I think it might be the one with the bullet we need to heal Derek-‘

Scott, Isaac and Allison join in the search, and it is Allison who gives a cry of triumph as she grabs a gun half-hidden underneath the body of one of the dead hunters lying close by. She turns the safety on, passes the gun to Stiles, whose steady hands removes the magazine and then the bullet from the chamber. Scott grabs one of the bullets, looks at it, and immediately bites the cap off. He pours the gunpowder out onto the side of the dagger he is still holding, and Stiles lights the gunpowder on fire with the lighter Isaac passes to him. Stiles scoops up the ashes and, fervently praying that it would work, presses it into the wound on Derek’s chest, almost gagging as he does so.

Derek reacts almost immediately, bucking up and writhing even as the wound starts to heal, the visible poison in his veins clearing out of his bloodstream _._ He lets out a growl, nails getting pointy and claw-like, and Stiles almost falls over as Scott tries to pull him back.

Stiles stares, hardly daring to breathe, and when Derek stops writhing, lying still and breathing harshly, Stiles throws himself half on top of Derek, getting a groan out of him.

‘God, Derek, you _asshole_.’

Derek makes a sound – it may have been a laugh; Stiles cannot be sure, focused as he is on getting his heartbeat under control – and after a moment, Stiles feels an arm curl around his back, holding him close.

*

Stiles bounds up the steps to his room, flings open his bedroom door and almost gets a coronary attack when he sees Derek lounging casually on his bed, book in hand, leaning against the headboard. Momentarily speechless, he stands still, backpack hanging limply from one hand.

‘Hi,’ Derek says.

Stiles waits a beat, and when he realises that that was all Derek has to say, he gets pissed. Derek hasn’t attempted to contact him in a week since- _since_ , and that was all he has to say?

‘That’s all you have to say?’ Stiles repeats aloud, for the benefit of the idiot who could sense his emotions, but could not – thank god – read his mind or hear his thoughts.

Derek’s eyes narrow in warning.  ‘No, actually, there’s this other thing: you shouldn’t have been in the forest.’

‘We were _tracking a scent_ , Derek, it’s nothing new; we’ve done it before.’

‘Then you should have gone when I said that there was something wrong!’ Derek snaps, standing up and moving closer to Stiles, barely able to conceal his anger.

Stiles screams internally in frustration, dumping his backpack on the floor before throwing up his hands. ‘How was I – wait, how were _we_ , by the way, Scott and Isaac and Allison were there too, I don’t know how this,’ he waves his hands around angrily, ‘became about me – to know that there’d be hunters? We’d been okay the past few occasions, nothing happened-’

‘You could have _died_ ,’ Derek seethes.

‘Oh, like you didn’t almost? I was there, dude, you were shot and it was a wolfsbane-laced bullet _again_ ; in fact I swear to god your heart stopped beating-‘

‘You promised.’

‘-and you were _dead_ for a min- Wha- I… Promised?’ Stiles screws his face up, eyebrows attempting to meet in the middle, and shakes his head. ‘What did I-?’

‘You promised you wouldn’t call me dude, if it meant I’d still be around.’

Stiles falls silent and gapes as Derek, whose face flushes, looking increasingly uncomfortable. Stiles – well, he remembers what he’d said, he just didn’t think Derek would bring it up _now_ , if ever. It’s a thing they do – they’ve said things before, things that mean something – but neither of them ever made it a point to bring it up again. Until now. Stiles doesn’t know what to do next, doesn’t know if he should address it or let it pass. He studies Derek’s face as the latter avoids his eyes, and decides that he’s not going to let it pass, damn it.

Stiles tilts his head, goes, ‘Huh’ as he takes a tiny step forward towards Derek, hoping that his movement wouldn’t be noticed. The glance that Derek shoots at his Stiles’ feet proves otherwise, as does the way he rocks back on his heels, forced-casually.

Stiles sighs, gives up trying not to spook Derek, and darts forward, hands holding onto Derek’s arms. He opens his mouth, says, ‘Dude.’ The glare that Derek levels at him was so expected, so achingly familiar that Stiles laughs right in his face. Derek’s face changes, then, and while Stiles attempts to commit the look on his face to memory, Derek moves ever closer, and he feels Derek’s lips pressing gently against his own.

Before Stiles could respond, however, Derek moves his head back, face stricken, making as if to move away, and Stiles- Stiles isn’t going to let that happen, okay, he _refuses_ ; this has been a long time in coming and he’s not going to allow Derek to back away. He makes an annoyed noise, hands moving up to link behind Derek’s neck, and this time, he presses his lips against Derek’s. Stiles kisses him without finesse, and Derek doesn’t respond, but Stiles doesn’t care because he knows, he _knows_ that they both want this, that Derek wants it as much as he does, so he growls in the back of his throat, and he feels Derek’s huff of laughter against his own mouth, and Stiles’ heart starts pounding impossibly faster, because this is a thing that he can live with. He doesn’t care that Derek is essentially laughing at his actions, because Derek is laughing, and that is a sound that Stiles wants to hear every damn day, if he could help it.

Stiles presses himself closer against Derek, but his kiss becomes gentler; and just as he open his eyes, eyelashes brushing against Derek’s cheek, Derek lifts his hands, rests them lightly against Stiles’ neck, a thumb caressing his jaw, and kisses him back.

-

‘I wasn’t going to let you get away with doing things I don’t like even if I was _dying_ ,’ Derek huffs, breath ghosting against Stiles’ lips.

**Author's Note:**

> (and they live happily ever after to the end of their days the end)
> 
> I'm not entirely sure how this came to be, all I wanted was to write a scene where Stiles calls Derek an asshole but then this happened. I also have a problem with finishing my sentences in real life and it's clearly transferred to my writing, gah.
> 
> Also: literally the first fanfic I've ever written (that didn't just stay shelved in my head).
> 
> [This](http://mazikeen.tumblr.com/) is where I do my fandom-flailing!


End file.
